


Cosmic Rebound

by noxelementalist



Category: Roswell (TV)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Kissing, Drunkenness, M/M, Making Out, Mildly Dubious Consent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-10-01 05:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10181669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noxelementalist/pseuds/noxelementalist
Summary: “As I recall, I chose being angry, bitter, cruel, getting drunk with you, and then accepting it while recuperating off a twisted ankle, in that order,” Kyle said. “So if you’re going my way, I suggest we get beer. A lot of beer.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is dedicated to my first slash OTP: Oh how I wish I could do you better justice than this. 
> 
> Set after Season 2, Episode 6 “The Harvest” but before Episode 7 “Wipe Out!”

“ _Kyle. Meet me at the bench in the park after lunch. Max_ ”

 

***

 

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Kyle grumbled as he walked into the park.

Kyle hadn’t been surprised to see the message- written on a folded up piece of torn notebook paper- taped against his locker door. It had been a few days since Liz had asked… and if he had been in Max’s place he would’ve acted a lot sooner, with any number of Roswell High athletes giving him an alibi.

_This won’t end well,_ Kyle had thought as he had left school, _but I guess if Max’s going to do this out in the open, it can’t be that bad._

But when Kyle got to the park and saw that it was nearly empty, excepting a few power walkers pacing on the far side of the park, he began to revise that opinion.

“What, haven’t seen the park before?” a soft voice teased from behind him.

Kyle suppressed the urge to twitch. “Not this empty,” he said as he looked around.

“Guess you don’t hang out around here much.”

“No Max,” Kyle said. “Normally I’m at hanging out with the basketball team.”

“Fair enough,” Max said as he walked up to where Kyle stood.

“So,” Kyle replied, turning his head to glance at the other boy, “which bench?”

“…That bench?” Max asked, pointing at one that sat in front of the park fountain.

“How was I supposed to know that?”

“It’s the only one I ever sit at.”

“I don’t exactly track people Max,” Kyle said as he started walking.

Max didn’t say anything as he followed behind, his feet shuffling across the stray blades of grace that poked up through the tiled pathway leading up to the fountain.

“So,” Kyle said as he sat down on the bench, “how are we going to do this?”

“Do what?” Max asked as he sat down, careful to leave a few inches of space between them on the narrow bench.

“Whatever it is you’re planning to do here?”

“We can’t just talk?”

“We could’ve done that at Crashdown. It’s still neutral territory, right?”

“It’s Liz’s,” Max replied, looking away from the other man. “I’m…we’re not on good terms right now. Not after-”

“After you saw me spend the night at Liz’s,” Kyle finished when Max trailed off.

Max sighed. “Pretty much,” he admitted.

“You ever ask her what that was about?”

“I think you know.”

“I think,” Kyle replied after a moment, “that you need to ask.”

“I shouldn’t have to.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Fine, allow me. ‘Kyle,” Kyle said. “Why did you sleep with Liz?’ Oh, I don’t know Max, maybe because she _asked me to_.”

“Liz would never do that.”

“Oh I have news for you-”

“-don’t you dare,” Max growled, grabbing Kyle’s shoulder.

“You’re gonna want to take your hand off me,” Kyle said calmly. “Or this is gonna get a lot worse than talking.”

“I just want to know what happened,” Max said firmly as he let go of Kyle’s shoulder. “That’s all.”

“Seriously, all I got for you is Liz asked me,” Kyle said. “I just figured you must have done something to get her to do that.”

“She just asked?”

“Yeah.”

“And that’s all it took to get you to sleep with her?”

“Okay, that’s,” Kyle started, “I’m going to ignore what you implied there, because you have the right to be cruel, but let me point out that I am, in fact, a healthy teenage guy and Liz is smart, gorgeous-”

“-And you’re ex-girlfriend-”

“-And the girl who would _be_ my girlfriend if she hadn’t gotten mixed up in all this alien stuff,” Kyle finished. “I mean, I’m not the one who dumped her. She wants me back, I’m not saying no.”

“I thought she dumped you when your ‘friends’ decided to beat me up,” Max said.

“Which they did ‘cause _you_ kept hanging around her after I told you to stop.”

“I wasn’t- I _love_ her, I don’t-”

“Even now?” Kyle asked pointedly. “Tess must love that.”

“Tess?” Max asked, sounding surprised. “Tess isn’t even a part of this!”

“Oh yeah? Then who did you go running off to? I thought so,” he added after Max didn’t answer.

“I- argh,” Max said, running a hand through his head, frustrated. “I just want to know why Liz would do that!”

“’cause I’m me?”

“Please.”

Kyle huffed. “Look, I’d tell you if I knew, but I don’t.” he said, glancing at a power-walker that was passing them by. “For all I know some future Max came back in time and told her to sleep with me to save the world.”

“Yeah, that’s likely,” Max snorted.

“So-”

“It’s just, what am I supposed to do with this?” Max blurted out. “Fight with you when even I know you’re not stupid enough to go after someone who doesn’t want you-”

“-Thanks, I think-”

“Or should I just pretend to be completely okay and start dating Tess?”

“I mean, you are supposed to be engaged to her right?” Kyle said. “But treat her like a consolation prize and I’m not sure who’ll kill you first, me or her.”

Max sighed. “Well, what would you do?”

“As I recall, I chose being angry, bitter, cruel, getting drunk with you, and then accepting it while recuperating off a twisted ankle, in that order,” Kyle said. “So if you’re going my way, I suggest we get beer. A _lot_ of beer.”

“Kyle-”

“Why not?” Kyle asked, forcing a fake smile onto his face. “Nobody’s gonna be at my house for at least three or four hours anyway. We’ll get drunk, complain about the women in our life. It’ll be great!”

“I still don’t remember what happened the last time we did that,” Max said.

“Neither do I, but I’m pretty sure it was better than angsting on the park bench.”

 

***

 

“Dude,” Kyle giggled. “Dude.”

“What?”

“You-you shotgunned the whole thing,” Kyle laughed, his feet awkwardly sprawling around the living room table as he slid off the worn Valenti couch onto the floor of his living room.

“It tasted bad!” Max said defensively.

In the past hour since they had gotten to Kyle’s house, the two men had slowly, but surely, drank their way through a six-pack that had been sitting inside the Valenti fridge (“for emergency use only,” Kyle had explained when he pulled it out.) Admittedly Kyle had gone through more of it, Max choosing to watch Kyle as he opened and drank the first two Coors, until Kyle had started talking about how pretty Liz had been when they first started dating each other.

Then Max had popped open a bottle and started drinking. Fast.

“It’s _supposed_ to taste bad,” Kyle said, watching as Max flopped down onto the floor next to him, making sure to put the now empty bottle on the table first. “Makes you slow down.”

“That’s stupid,” Max said. “If you’re gonna drink, you should _commit_.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Besides, who wants to go slow? I don’t wanna go slow.”

“Slow sucks,” Kyle said, lolling his head against Max’s shoulder. “It’s not fun. It’s like, drink responsibly, but _why_? Who wants to be responsible? Do you want to be responsible?”

“Nuh-uh,” Max said, shaking his head emphatically. “No way. I’m so tired of being resp-resp- in charge. Don’t know why everyone keeps telling me to be.”

“’Cause you’re our fearless alien leader,” Kyle said, patting Max’s arm. “And leaders have to be in charge. It’s, like, a whole thing.”

“Ugh, but I’m tired of it,” Max said, yawning. “Or maybe I’m just tired?”

“Maybe,” Kyle said. “Hey, Max?”

“Yes Kyle?”

“Wanna go take a nap on my bed?”

Max furrowed his brow. “Huh?”

“You know,” Kyle said, “a nap, like in kindergarten! My room is, like, completely empty and ex-girlfriend free. We could curl up and just unwind.”

“But-”

“It’d be better than the couch.”

“It would be,” Max grumbled, slowly getting up.

“Hey, we have a good couch,” Kyle protested, stumbling a little as he stood up. “My bed’s just comfier is all.”

“Right,” Max said. “…Where’s your room again?”

“It’s down that hall,” Kyle said, gesturing wildly.

“Race you there?”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Max said, smirking. “Bet I can beat you again.”

“Oh you’re going down star-boy!”

 

***

 

“Took you long enough,” Max called from the twin bed in the room as he watched Kyle stumbled in.

“How?” Kyle asked. “I-I just.”

Max shrugged. “I went through the kitchen.”                                      

“There’s no door from the kitchen.”

“Yeah, now.”

“Cheater,” Kyle grumbled, slumping down next to the other boy on the bed, his legs dangling so that one of Kyle’s feet hung idly off of it.

“Did not!”

“Alien powers are _so_ cheating.”

“Hey, you get to use your sports powers thing, so.”

“Sports powers things?” Kyle laughed. “What sports powers thing?”

“You know,” Max said. “The lifting, blocking, ball-throwing thing-”

“You can do all that too.”

“Not like you. I mean, I can do sports, but I would make such a bad athlete.”

“You would, but that’s okay,” Kyle added, gently patting him. “We love your not-sporty self anyway.”

“Really?”

“I mean you don’t get a cool jersey or anything, but yeah.”

“You get to keep your jersey?” Max asked.

“Uh, duh?” Kyle said, haphazardly opening a nearby drawer. “See?”

“I do. Huh. Guess you learn something new every day,” Max said as he watched Kyle pull out a blue jersey and give it to him. “It feels soft.”

“Wanna wear it?”

“Can I?”

“Be my guest,” Kyle said.

Max hummed thoughtfully, before slowly stripping off his shirt and dropping it on the floor, Kyle glancing away from him as Max put on the jersey. “So this is what this feels like,” Max said, the blue fabric with bolded yellow “Thirty-Two” billowing around his narrower frame.

“Really cool, huh?”

“So cool,” Max murmured.

“Tess tried to wear it once, but you wear it much better,” Kyle said. “I should probably worry about that, but I don’t think I care right now.”

“Kyle?”

“What?”

“Could-could you come a little closer?

“Sure,” Kyle said, shuffling slightly on the bed until his head was resting on Max’s chest. “What’s up?”

“I am going to tell you a secret,” Max said, wrapping an arm around Kyle.

“A secret?”

“Uh-huh,” Max said as he shifted closer, his head resting on Kyle’s shoulder. “Not-drunk Max wouldn’t say it, but he’s not here right now.”

Kyle made a face. “Who’s here then?”

“Drunk Max.”

“Oh yay,” Kyle said, smiling. “I like Drunk Max. He’s gets me.”

“Good to hear, because Drunk Max was worried you’d be all judgey.”

“Hey, I would never judge Drunk Max!”

Max rolled his eyes. “You ready?”

“Yeah,” Kyle said. “Just whisper it in my ear.”

Max turned his head until his lips were directly over Kyle’s ear. “I,” Max said, “am a bad leader.”

“No way!”

“What, I am!” Max added when he saw the look of surprise on Kyle’s face. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m just, like, waiting for someone to give me answers.”

“Like who?”

“I dunno Kyle, just someone.”

“Liz would know.”

Max nodded, the gesture causing his head to nuzzle Kyle’s arm. “She would. She’s smart.”

“That’s our Liz.”

“Not our Liz,” Max mumbled. “She’s your Liz. Didn’t want me.”

“Felt like she did,” Kyle muttered. Besides, it’s not like we’re dating or anything.”

“But she slept with you.”

“But we didn’t, like, _do_ anything, you know? And you slept with her too, don’t tell me you didn’t.”

“Still, you get Liz, you get Tess. It’s so not fair.”

“Hey, hey no pouting. ‘Cause you know what? They never really talk about me. No, It’s all ‘Max is my soulmate’ and ‘why won’t Max marry me.”

“What, why? I didn’t ask them to marry me.”

“I know.”

“I’m not ready for that.”

“Cold man, it really is.”

“And not liking you?” Max asked. “You’re amazing, they should _totally_ like you.”

“It’s okay,” Kyle said, freeing a hand from where it had been pressed between them to pat Max on head. “I’m making peace with it. As Buddha says, you gotta be all un-un-”

“Unattached?”

“Yes, that,” Kyle said. “How can you even say words like that, aren’t you drunk?”

Max shrugged. “Lawyer’s kid,” he said. “I could probably recite the alphabet backwards too.”

“See, you can even _speak well drunk_ , that’s like the best superpower ever!”

“Doesn’t help that much,” Max said, causing Kyle to snort. “But seriously, you deserve to be loved.”

“I do, but they don’t want me,” Kyle replied. “Nobody really seems to want me like that.”

“I want you.”

“…Wha?”

“Because you’re loyal, and kind, and you don’t judge me even when I know I’m being stupid,” Max babbled. “You never try to hurt me, not really. You always tell me what you’re thinking, and you kept me company when Liz went on that whole blind date thing, and you’re letting me wear your jersey in your room when really you should be as far away from me as possible and making fun of me for losing Liz. It’s loveable.”

“Aww…”

“Plus, you’re really, really good looking. Like, seriously.”

“Please, you’re just saying that.”

“No really,” Max insisted, tapping Kyle on the chest. “You’re all big and muscly, and you’re eyes are all soft and blue and pretty.”

“I don’t suppose you’re gay now?” Kyle blurted out. “I mean, I asked last time and you said you weren’t, but that definitely doesn’t sound-”

“Nope,” Max said nuzzling his neck. “I’m that other thing.”

“What other thing?”

“You know, the-the thing. The both thing.”

“Um. Um, wait, I got this,” Kyle said as he thought. “Bi?”

“Yes.” Max said, beaming. “I’m bi. But shh, that’s a secret too.”

“Yeah, yeah right,” Kyle said, nodding.

“Like almost as big as the ‘me being an alien’ secret. But like, not as much, because I don’t think the FBI investigates you for being that.”

“Not around here they don’t.”

“You-you’re, okay with that though, right?” Max asked, sounding tired. “I…I want you to be okay with that, but I know it’s a lot.”

“Max,” Kyle said, shifting his head slightly until he was looking at Max directly. “I am totally okay with that.”

There was a pause.

“Kyle?” Max said finally, his eyes flicking over Kyle’s face.

“Max?”

“I’m gonna do something pretty stupid. Like Liz sleeping with you stupid.”

“But not really that stupid cause I’m pretty.”

“Yeah,” Max sighed. “I just wanted to warn you first.”

“Okay.”

And then, with great care, Max titled his slightly and kissed Kyle, a wet, sloppy, _perfect_ kiss that sent a shudder of want reeling through Kyle as his lips slid and pulled against Max’s, which tasted sharp and citrusy and full.

“How...how was that?” Max murmured after a breathless moment.

“It-it-,” Kyle panted.

“You can catch your breath first,” Max giggled.

Kyle tried to slow his breathing down, feeling painfully aware of being in his bedroom. Of the orange curtains and yellowed sheets, of the blue and yellow pillows pressing behind Max into the corner against the wood paneling that used to have some of his sports posters on it before Tess had taken them down. Of his ball caps, red and orange, that hung on the rope on the wall by his bedroom door.

“Kyle?”

And Kyle thought about Max, the way they kept moving in circles around parties and girls. The way Max was when he had to make a decision, all serious and concerned like the fate of the world rested on his shoulders, and the way he was now, relaxed, in jeans that matched his and wearing his jersey.

The way Max’s body felt tucked against his, firm and warm.

“You-you’re starting to worry me now Kyle,” Max joked, chuckling nervously.

“Max,” Kyle said at last.

“Yeah?”

“That was a _damn_ good kiss,” he said, grinning at the other boy.

“Yeah?”

“Mmhmm.” Kyle murmured. “Kinda want another.”

Max’s eyes widened. “Another? You sure?”

“Yes,” Kyle said, rolling slightly so that his body pressed hard against Max, pushing him against the pillows. “I do.”

“And then what?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Kyle admitted, nuzzling against Max’s neck. “Haven’t thought that far, but-”

“-but?” Max gasped when Kyle suddenly nipped his neck.

“-but I do know that we both do better when we stop thinking and just go with it,” Kyle murmured, “and I hope you appreciate just how much of my attention you have for me to get a sentence that long out.”

“Didn’t seem that hard.”

“Seem hard now?” Kyle teased, grinding against the other boy.

“Kyle,” Max said in a strained voice. “I-”

“No Max,” Kyle said, his hand starting to slide under his own jersey against Max’s stomach (which felt so very smooth to Kyle’s fingers). “Later. Talk later, make out _now_.”

“But-oh,” Max whined as Kyle’s hand dragged low, fingertips dipping into Max’s boxers. “But what if, if you don’t want-”

Kyle huffed. “Maxwell Evans, you are a stubborn man,” he said, drawing back. “But fine. Let me make this clear to you. I want you. I want you _a lot_. And right now? I want to press you into the wall and make out with you until I figure out how to make both of us feel _amazing_.”

“But you’re drunk right now.”

“Yeah, but so are you,” Kyle replied. “Maybe you don’t want-.”

“The hell I don’t,” Max growled, pushing Kyle until he lay on his back, Max resting on top of him.

“Then we can figure out how we’re gonna do this when we’re sober too,” Kyle replied, entangling their legs until Max was pinned against him. “Now _shut. up.”_

_“_ Make me,” Max challenged.

Kyle smirked before raising his head to bite Max’s lips, drawing a shuddering moan from the boy on top of him. “I promise you I will,” he said, and kissed Max again.


End file.
